Election Playbook: Malta marida, mediċina... ADPD?

Election fever approaching: MaltaToday’s rolling survey suggests people are warming up to the election, with the share of valid votes edging up to 85.9%. Had the election happened the day before, the turnout would have been 85.4%. PL’s support stands at 53.2%, while that of the PN is at 44.7%. Third parties collectively have the support of 2% of the electorate. 

Malta marida, mediċina... ADPD?: ADPD launched their 83-page manifesto on Wednesday, calling for a pink tax ban, a fixed term parliament, and clearer laws on abortion. Interestingly, they kick off their manifesto with the simple sentence “Malta marida”, almost evoking the 1971 election slogan “Malta marida, mediċina Mintoff” (Malta is sick, Mintoff is the cure). Regardless, the manifesto outlines several key areas of interest for the party, as well as proposals concerning ethics in public life, political party financing, the election of the president and an inquiry into the Electrogas and Vitals contracts. 

PN hits back with own smear campaign: The Nationalist Party embarked on their own smear campaign against Robert Abela, questioning his “Russian strings” after he offered legal service to a Russian national who bought Maltese citizenship. Abela represented Evgeny Filobokov in a civil lawsuit against Fort Cambridge Property Management – the catch is that Filobokov was one of three Russian clients who received their passport through the intermediation of Nexia BT’s Brian Tonna. The proceeds of which are the subject of a criminal investigation into an alleged kickback to Keith Schembri. 

Journalists condemn Labour billboard: The Institute for Maltese Journalists condemned the Labour Party’s billboard as it features Manuel Delia, who now works as an independent journalist. The institute recalled how Daphne Caruana Galizia was similarly singled out for her work on a party billboard before her murder, and expressed concern over the same incident being played out again. Delia is himself a former official in Austin Gatt’s secretariat, and contested the 2013 election on the PN ticket. However, he has had no involvement with the Nationalist Party for years. 

Giving up the gold: The Labour government might have given into widespread pressures to suspend its golden passport scheme for Russians. Community Malta Agency and Residency Malta Agency stated that due diligence checks cannot be carried out effectively due to the ongoing Ukrainian-Russian conflict, and so have suspended applications for Russians and Belarusians.  

Foreign Minister Evarist Bartolo joined us in the newsroom for a quick chat on the Ukraine-Russia conflict. Watch it here! 

First round of nominations: The Electoral Commission received 20 candidate nominations on Wednesday. The list contains a mix of Labour and Nationalist candidates, with no surprise nominations as of yet. Prospective candidates have until 7pm on Sunday 6 March to submit their nomination, either online or in person.  

What are the new proposals?: Labour pledged a “significant” wage increase for educators as well as paid teaching practice for all learning support educators and kindergarten assistants. The Nationalist Party pledged 15 days paternity leave and eight weeks parental leave, while marking White Rocks as the first stretch of land to be transferred into ODZ. Independent candidate Arnold Cassola suggested that the state should subsidise utility bills for pensioners and vulnerable people, while ensuring a decent minimum wage. 

What’s happening today?: Robert Abela will be in St Julian’s at 8pm for a youth activity. Bernard Grech will be in Qormi at 6pm for a political activity – before which he will be visiting Żurrieq, Santa Venera, and Lija. Arnold Cassola has an interview on TVAM at 7:40am.